The season is upon us. Yes, elections are right around the corner and ads touting or bashing this or that person are already hard to avoid.
Across the state men and women, Democrats and Republicans, have stepped up to represent the interests of their friends, family, and neighbors. More than most run to serve their communities first and foremost. A few run for office simply because winning could provide a source of income to those otherwise unemployable, but those candidates are rare and easy to spot through campaign finance reports.
Campaign finance reports reveal more than who is supporting a candidate; they say something about a candidate’s view of their supporters.
For those rare self-financed candidates like Christina Jones, a candidate in the Arizona Republican Primary race for governor, some conclusions can be drawn from her reports.
According to the Yellow Sheet, “Christine Jones’ gubernatorial campaign has been a gravy train for consultants. According to her campaign finance report, Jones raised $590,000 – of which $500,000 was self-funded – and had already spent a whopping $540,000 by end of 2013. According to the operating expenses portion of her finance report, which runs 27 pages, the bulk of the expenditures went to consultants. The report showed that Jones has paid about $108,000 to campaign manager Brian Seitchik and another $22,000 to SeitchikHQ LLC; $60,000 to consultant James Murphy; $55,000 to New Jersey-based Chris Mottola Consulting for communications consulting services; $22,000 to consultant James Ashley; and $15,000 to finance consultant Amilyn Gordon and another $5,000 to her firm, the Engaging Company. The campaign also spent heavily on vendors, including $50,000 to Texas-based Harris Media for website design and other communications; $41,000 to Oregon-based Moore Information for two polls; and $28,000 to The Voyageur Company, a Minnesota-based firm, for mail services.”
The numbers that stunned the chattering class and raised eyebrows could be the result of a woman, who puts her money where her mouth is and saw a need and sacrificed to fill it. Her opponents will naturally ask if she is trying to buy votes.
A cynical question because the truth of the matter is, most candidates are trying to buy votes – one way or another. The key difference usually being not that they are buying votes, but how many can they afford?
Then there are candidates like Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll, whose campaign finance reports raise eyebrows and questions.
In the January 31 Report, which covers the reporting period of November 27, 2012, through December 31, 2013, for the filing period of January 1, 2014, through January 31, 2014, Ray Carroll spent monies in ways that most of his donors might have never imagined.
Long after Ray Carroll’s uncontested 2012 General Election race, he was using donations from attorneys, developers, residents and retirees to pay consultants, charitable organizations, and family in a most generous fashion.
Few of the handful of listeners of Emil Franzi’s Inside Track on KVOI, or readers of Wicke Enterprise’s offerings, Inside Tucson Business and the Green Valley News knew that while Franzi was offering his vitriolic opinions to them, he was being paid as a consultant by the Carroll campaign.
When asked to explain why he did not a post a disclaimer/notice of some kind for the readers of the Green Valley News in what has been best described as Franiz’s latest hit piece, Editor Dan Shearer responded that if Franzi was on “anybody’s payroll for future elections, he won’t be writing about them or the entity they work for.”
According to the report, Franzi’s Inside Track Productions was paid $1000 on December 4, 2012, $1000 on March 13, 2013, and $1000 on August 21, 2013, for consulting. Earlier INSIDE TRACK PRODUCTIONS was paid on February 22, 2012, $1,150.00 for “DATA & CONSULT SERVICES, on 05/24/2012, received $1,000.00 for “CONSULTING,” on 04/15/2012, was paid $1,000.00 for “CONSULTING,” and on 03/24/2012, was paid $1,000.00 for “CONSULTING.”
Consultants get around. According to the June 2012 report, Carroll also hired McSally’s former campaign manager, Sam Stone, who was forced to resign after it became known that he was attempting to help Democrats defeat McSally’s Republican Primary challenger in the CD8 Special Election, Jesse Kelly. Carroll paid Stone $726.50 on 02/06/2012 for “CONSULTING.” According to several sources, Franzi is also a consultant for McSally, who he has referred to on air in interviews as “babe.”
A complaint is expected to be filed with authorities regarding unusual payments to Carroll’s son, although previous reports show no debt owing at the end of 2012, let alone to Ray Carroll’s son. On April 1, 2013, an item described as PARTIAL PMT FOR 2012 VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR, was entered and $1000 was paid. On April 23, 2013, another item described as PARTIAL PMT FOR 2012 VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR, was entered and ANOTHER $1400 was paid.
Campaign contributions to and from Carroll were also donated and/or paid to numerous churches and charities, some over a year after the election. Monies went to a wide range of groups including the Human Society of Southern Arizona ( 11/22/13 $50), St Augustine’s Cathedral (6/13/13 $500), Salpointe Catholic Education Foundation (12/23/13 $100), and Empire Ranch (8/5/13 3:10 to Yuma Fundraiser $300)(Franzi is a member of the Empire Ranch Board).
Many opportunistic candidates attend various charity events during campaigns not only to spread good will, but earn favors and support. Those expenses are to be expected to some extent, but rarely do they pass the sniff test long after an election as legitimate campaign expenses. Few donors expect the hard earned money they give to be spent on pet projects and charities.